Bostin News: Meet Illustrator Amy Holland

When we started to follow @busybee_amy (or Amy Holland as we now know) on Instagram we were instantly taken by her illustrations. From beautiful plants to detailed drawings of imaginary characters in busy rooms - we loved her style. So when we wanted some illustrations of our content editors we knew who we had to ask.

After insta-stalking Amy we thought it would be nice to get to know her a bit better.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m 27 and live in Stourbridge with my fiancé Al and our greyhound Thomas (you’ll see more of him on my Instagram then Al haha). I’m a self taught illustrator learning as I go.

How did you get in to illustration?
I’ve been creative since I can remember and have always loved being able to create. I think I realised that illustration was something that I cared more about when I became a teenager and used it to project my feelings.

You seem to favour black and white and a line drawn style - can you tell us how you developed it? 
I’ve always seemed to favour a good pen and black ink drawing. I like how simple it is considering most of my pieces are quite busy and the absolute opposite of simple. I am currently experimenting with the use of one colour along side the black and white but that’s a project in the making.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get my inspiration from personal experiences, magazines, poetry and music... lots of things. I like to think my brain is a library of different images I can pick from to create something new. I blame this for my appalling short term memory, I just can’t fit anything else in.

What tools do you use to create your work?
My go to tools are: A3 Winsor & Newton extra smooth drawing paper, any pencil I can find in the draw, Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink, many different fine liners but two of the most used in my collection are Staedtler pigment liners and Derwent line markers. A hot tip! I used to use black permanent markers but was told they age a brown/yellow so RIP old artwork. I’ve recently been drawing digitally more on Procreate, it’s more convenient when travelling but my favourite way to draw is still old school pencil.

How did you tackle the portraits we sent you?
I really enjoyed creating the portraits. I started by sketching out everyone’s face shapes and features from a reference photo. I then used my iPad to make a more refined digital version of those sketches adding more detail and hair texture.

What would be your dream commission? 
Hmmm my dream commission... honestly I’d be so happy to have another artist or creative that I admire to ask me to draw something for them. Every time I get any commission it’s always very exciting. I guess if it was someone “famous” though I’d cry if I got to design something for Post Malone.

What do you think of the creative scene across the Black Country?
It’s so warming knowing that here in the Black Country creativity is so cherished. Especially now during a pandemic people are getting together teaching their creative skills virtually and donating art packs to keep others busy in the boredom.

Do you recommend any other creates from the area we should be looking out for? 
I have a few local creative mates that I’d love to shout about:

@h_a_n_g_a for beautiful earth friendly macrame bags

@taddies_tat for cute fashionable hand made earrings

@unpopshop for cool badges, magnets, business cards, labels, etc

@bur.t for awesome digital illustrations

@mollycleaver for vibrant illustrated patterns

You can follow Amy’s Instagram feed @busybee_amy and go and commission her for a gorgeous portrait!